The final project results of the DERAD project are now available. It started three years ago in 2016 and ended last month, in March 2019. DERAD aims to prevent the escalation of radicalisation in the prison environment and help prisoners and probationers who are often exposed to Jihadist recruitment or self-radicalisation to overcome the different problems and push factors usually exploited by recruiters.
Another important objective of the project was the formalisation of an inter-agency group, for cross-sectors specialised in dealing with radicalised detainees. The specific project actions were directed to create original contents for the training of 55 European trainers with e-learning modalities on the phenomenon of radicalisation and to organise cascade training activities in 26 countries.
Four project phases
The project existed of four phases. During the first phase the syllabus and training modules were designed. These were used in later phases of the project. In the second phase expert user groups came together and in the third phase it was time for the recruitment of 55 trainers. They came from all over Europe: Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Malta, Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, the Netherland, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Bulgaria and Romania. These trainers were educated during seven training of the trainers sessions in several European countries. In the final phase of the project 52 national cascade courses were delivered all over Europe.
HERMES platform
The main outcome of the DERAD project is HERMES, a unique online training platform intended to provide interactive training courses for all people active in counter-radicalisation activities. Since the launch of the platform, 2.017 users registered for the courses.
Video
One of the other outcomes of the project is the creation of a training video called “Farouk – Disbelievers”, the story of Farouk, a young Tunisian boy detained in various Italian prisons, and of his path towards radicalisation.
For more information about the final project results, please visit the DERAD website.